One in 100 ambulance calls go unanswered in April 2011

Figures from the Department of Health have highlighted the proportion of emergency ambulance calls that went unanswered in April 2011.

Around one in every 100 calls was terminated by the caller before being answered by emergency operators over the course of the month.

This amounted to 5,157 calls from the total of more than half a million (513,540) emergency calls received by the 999 switchboard in April.

However, among patients to whom an ambulance was dispatched, 97.2 per cent received paramedic attendance within 19 minutes and 76.8 per cent within eight minutes.

For 4.2 per cent of callers, there was no need for the patient to be transferred to a hospital accident and emergency department.

Instead, these people were treated at the scene, or given adequate telephone advice to avoid the need for paramedic attention.

Overall, the month saw 193,223 category-A calls made across England which required an emergency response to the scene by an ambulance.